Reunions and Introductions
by x-Kim0x
Summary: Rose is reunited with the Doctor and some other old friends. She meets the Doctor's new companions. Please read and review. Rating may change.
1. Rose's Unsuccessful Search

**Reunions and Introductions.**

Six months. For the past six months, Rose Tyler had searched high and low, without success, and with one distinct aim etched onto her brain. To find that one man in six billion. That one alien. The last time lord in existence; her Doctor. She had had no indication as to where he might be; Torchwood had barely managed to transport her between the two universes in the impending emergency. She wondered if the Doctor was aware of it yet. Was the Doctor aware that every single universe in existence was in grave danger?

Almost two years since that fateful day upon which Rose had been forced into a parallel world; hers and the Doctor's hearts cruelly torn out of their being and discarded hurriedly, viciously and cruelly, Rose stepped again into the world in which she had been born. The day she'd been forced into the alternative universe, Rose had felt not dissimilar to a child incapable of acceptable behaviour; aggressive, naughty, rebellious. But the way in which she had fallen; been teleported, was much, much worse than being dragged, hands first, to her lonely, deserted, empty bedroom. Words did not exist to express the extent to which it was worse than being physically pulled around; Rose was only aware that it had felt like she had been forcibly pulled from her life, from her home world, her Doctor. Upon many occasions; almost latterly, Rose had wished that she had simply fallen into the void, with the Daleks and Cybermen; the very evil that she and the Doctor had been so savagely parted in attempting to rid the world of. Life without the Doctor had unquestionably been worse than death on a massive scale. Although considered dead on her world, she knew that real death would have been better than living without him. Every day for Rose was one too many without the Doctor; a heartbreaking, insurmountable and uphill struggle to pass the time, which had been slowed by millions of times the very second Pete Tyler had teleported her into the parallel universe. Pete Tyler. But he was not her dad. Her dad, whom the Doctor had taken her to see; would never have teleported her into a parallel universe like that. He had only known the Doctor for a mere few hours, but understood the complexity and extent of her feelings for the time lord. He would have known how much she would suffer to be trapped on a different world to her Doctor, and would never have even contemplated teleporting her into it. He'd have known that she'd have preferred death, and co-operated with her wishes whatever anyone said, even Jackie.

Rose would have killed herself long ago, believing the opportunity which now had come into her grasp to be impossible, unfathomable and, frankly, too good to be true. Her life meant nothing without him in it. She had been empty; more empty even than the empty citizens of 1940's London, turned into monsters by the nanogenes within a medical warship. She was surrounded by people, but they were no longer her family. She'd expected her mother, who had survived twenty years long, hard and painful yeasrs without her soul mate; and had not in reality been reunited with him; to understand how much of a torment a life without the Doctor was for her. But no. Jackie had simply expected her daughter to be teary for a minimal period, and then be grateful. Gratitude. How could she possibly show gratitude to the man who'd separated her from her Doctor in the most phenomenal way? And teary did not cover it. Tears had cascaded from her once beautiful face; hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month. And they had failed to notice. They'd made the mansion like a prison; watching her, following her, suffocating her. All to make sure she did not kill herself; rid herself of a life that had far exceeded the final point at which it was remotely worth living. Mickey. Mickey Smith had simply concluded that Rose still had a companion, someone to love her. She and Mickey were not love. She'd be lucky if Mickey would agree to drive her to Scotland, even when he was almost unconscious on alcohol, and could barely comprehend her requests. But the Doctor would be tortured until the end of time for her; of this she was certain. Her Doctor. And she would search for him until the end of time, because that was real love.

Rose would find him. Six months on her own world had amounted to nothing, but it was not over. This was not the end. She would find him; she needed him. She'd scour every other universe on the remote chance that he'd have gone to them searching for her; not knowing which one she'd been trapped in. But of course he knew. She'd still search every other universe before returning to her miserable, pitiful, shadow of an existence on Pete Tyler's universe.

For six months previously, Rose had scoured the universe for every trace of danger, and sifted each individual incident for her Doctor. She'd not even caught a glimpse of anything the colour of the TARDIS, never mind succeeded in finding the TARDIS, or even better, him. She was aware that if she found the TARDIS, she'd found him. She needed a new approach; a fresh approach, a more sophisticated approach.

Sarah Jane. A successful, profitable and heavily experienced journalist, Sarah would know of more danger filled incidents than Rose herself would be capable of finding if she spent the entirety of the following decade researching danger, catastrophes at a global level, disasters. She'd increase Rose's chances of being reunited with the Doctor, and she'd most probably aid her in scouring the incidents to find him; all while reporting on them. She'd invited Rose to find her. Said that if she needed her; at any time, to find her. And that was what she would do. Rose had eventually bonded with Sarah due to their similar experiences with the one time lord, and if she did not find the Doctor again, Sarah, she was sure, would prove better company than her supposed family, who were meant to love her and care about her so much. Sarah would make her feel closer to the Doctor, and she'd not tear her heart into tiny shards and put them on display for the entire universe to see. Sarah Jane would not abandon her. She would not let her down.


	2. Sarah Jane Smith

Part 2.

Rose's mind drifted momentarily back to the time she and the Doctor had shared with Sarah Jane in the horrifically managed secondary school in London. Croydon. That's where Sarah had lived; Rose had been listening in on the Doctor's strained conversation with his former companion. How she'd managed to deduce 'Croydon' let alone anything else, while having Mickey waffle in her ear like a furby was beyond her. But she had. Sarah Jane had wasted no time in informing the Doctor that he had failed in his intentions to deposit her in Croydon, and instead managed to drop her off in Aberdeen. Croydon. That was where she'd go. She'd search every phone directory, every organisation that remotely resembled having a subtle link with journalism, every street until she found her. She'd scour the city until she found a glimmer of hope at the end of the still darkened tunnel which she had found herself thrown into cruelly at the blink of an eye almost two years before. Until she made the tiniest step forward in finding her Doctor, because that was how much she loved him, needed him; craved his company, his love.

Knocking firmly on the walnut brown door, Rose absentmindedly ran her hands over her clothes, straightening them up. She didn't know why she'd bothered, though; it wasn't as if she was going look up to find the Doctor grinning back at her.

The door finally creaked open what seemed to Rose to be weeks later, the minutes adding to the number that had accumulated since she'd last seen the Doctor. Understandably, it seemed like years since she had last seen him. The wooden structure swung backwards swiftly, revealing Sarah Jane in blue jeans and a pink T shirt, which really needed replacing; much as she had last seen her. As Sarah's eyes glazed over with concern for the young, reasonably tall and seemingly unstable blonde who stood ahead of her, Rose felt overwhelmed by a sense of guilt that such thought had come to her attention with regard to the attire of the Doctor's former companion.

Sarah edged backwards slightly, gazing into Rose's eyes. Once not dissimilar to chocolate chips, they could now barely be distinguished from the speck of black that formed her pupils. Observing the tired eyes ahead of her fill with what seemed to be endless tears, Sarah held her arms out to Rose and guided her forwards into the confines of the house; Rose wrapped her hands around Sarah's shoulder gratefully and sobbed freely into her shoulder. Her sobs failed to stabilize for some minutes; ranging from gut wrenching to almost silent; vicious to tepid, and Sarah stroked the troubled girl's back reassuringly, comfortingly, gently.

"Rose…" Sarah started as Rose's sobs appeared to die down. They only became more prominent once again, as Rose clutched to Sarah as if her life depended on it, almost clawing a lump out of the skin of her back. As it stood, Sarah was about the only thing; person or object; that she could have which held any kind of link to her Doctor.

Sarah continued to cradle the shaking Rose slightly ahead of her as she concluded what she had been saying. "What's happened?" she asked, her voice etched with care, concern, and a very slight element of dismay.

Tears began to fall once again from the pools that were Rose's eyes, her form shaking alarmingly constantly. She jolted violently, convinced that she would have fallen to the floor in a pathetic, laughable and tiny heap had Sarah not been there to support her.

"He's – g-one…" Rose managed with great difficulty as a series of heart wrenching sobs ripped through her defenceless body. These were somehow reduced in size despite the horror of having to relive the nightmare that had darkened her life two years previously; allowing her no joy since. The only feasible explanation in existence was that she had sought and found much needed comfort in confiding with another; a problem shared is a problem halved, as Rose had been taught by her mother during her younger years.

"The Doctor? He left you?"

Rose again became encompassed with emotion, the weight of her tears which continued to cascade down her once beautiful features like rivers finally taking their toll on her. Sarah honestly believed in that shattering moment that they would never completely cease. "No," came the simple, struggled, muffled reply as Rose's heart ripped into two at the thought of what had in reality taken her Doctor from her. She buried her face in Sarah's shoulder and remained there for what seemed to be several minutes, Sarah rocking her shaking form for comfort. But that wasn't the comfort Rose wanted. She needed her Doctor.

When Sarah did nothing to continue the conversation, Rose spoke up meekly, "I got trapped," not making things any clearer, but to her the harrowing events of that fateful July were all too obvious.

Sarah hugged Rose tightly, sincerely hoping, praying and willing that it would go some way towards not aggravating Rose as she made her next point. "I don't know what you mean, Rose…"

"The Doctor.. he couldn't stop them.. an..an..an..and …I got trapped," revealed a rather reluctant Rose, bursting out with fresh tears at the prospect being forced to recall the very worst nightmare of her twenty two year life. At the prospect of relieving every last detail, every last moment, every last word. At the prospect of being pressed as if she were the final droplets of water while a drought was in progress.

At this, Sarah gripped Rose's trembling hands securely. "Lets get you sat down," she expressed invitingly, leading Rose, who was becoming more distraught by the minute, to a cream leather couch in the middle of a lounge of beige and white; beige wallpaper covering the entirety of the lower region of the four walls, giving way to crisp white paint.

Rose sat down in silence. Complete silence. This wasn't how Sarah remembered her; the young, ambitious and energetic blonde into which she had run almost three years previously. Rose had been more adventurous than she ever had, filled with so much more life. It was irrelevant that she had begun travelling with the Doctor at a much younger age than Sarah had. It was then that she came to the realisation that it was her responsibility to take the lead.

"Did he leave you, Rose?" the feisty journalist enquired gently.

"No," was the reply with which Sarah unhelpfully found herself supplied.

Shuffling closer to the devastated blonde beside her, Sarah spoke up again. "I don't understand; what happened?"

"Canary Wharf."

In continuing her life without the Doctor in it, Sarah Jane Smith had become accustom to completing a jigsaw of varying complexity on a regular basis. As regular as clockwork; at three o' clock on a Tuesday afternoon, she would slowly, cautiously and gently pull out yet another box from underneath her couch and set to work. But this was one jigsaw that Sarah found herself unable to piece together.

Sarah sighed heavily, the fact that she had expelled oxygen quickly abundantly obvious to Rose. Even through the tears, angst and pain that came with being apart from the Doctor, she was all too conscious, too awake, and too aware. "Rose, if you want me to help, you're going to have to give me more than this…" Sarah resorted. She had not initially intended to come across as insistent, as upfront and as nosy as she had done, and secretly cursed herself for her preceding words under her breath.

Rose promptly buried her face in her hands, sniffling gently. Sarah placed a caring hand on her back, as Rose began to shake at having to relive the worst time of her life in the most vivid way.

"Canary Wharf…" she slowly began, raising her head slightly to look at Sarah as a sigh on her part told Rose that her words were too muffled to be deciphered. "The Daleks and Cybermen both invaded at the same time, and started trying to kill each other. The Cybermen started upgrading everyone and nearly got my Mum; she legged it and met up with the Parallel version of my Dad, who said the Doctor was going to close the breach and that he was going home. He decided Mum was going with him but I refused to leave the Doctor and Mum refused to leave me; the Doctor put the disc around my neck. I-" started Rose in continuation, compelled to continue through the thought that the sooner that she revealed everything about the fateful, cruel and nightmare day, the sooner she would be reunited with her Doctor.

Sarah gasped, but cut in, interrupting what Rose had been about to reveal. She took Rose in her welcoming arms. "He sent you to another world… I'm so sorry," she said empathetically, cradling her at the same time.

"No," Rose stopped her, speaking swiftly and in monotones. "I came back, and said I was never leaving him. He didn't fight and we were so happy; he didn't really want to let me go, he just thought it was best for me, with my Mum going to that universe. We had Cybermen coming up the stairs and Daleks about to come through the window, in Torchwood, and opened the breach. We had to hold on to clamps on the wall that the Doctor had got earlier, while the void stuff made the Daleks and Cybermen fall into the void because they weren't holding on. Anyway, we didn't have much longer to go when the lever got damaged and I had to fix it, or we'd still have had Cybermen and Daleks on this world, killing everyone and everything in their wake. I couldn't reach and dropped down to the lever to fix it, but then I couldn't hold on. I got pulled in as well. In the end the parallel of my Dad teleported in and teleported us both out." Having finished recalling the events of that one terrible day to Sarah Jane, Rose began to cry some more; more fiercely than she had before, and clung to Sarah as if her life depended on it.

"Oh Rose, I'm so sorry.." Sarah reeled, returning Rose's hug. "Did the Daleks and Cybermen get your Dad from this universe?"

Rose sniffed momentarily. She then spoke up with an air of confidence in her voice, so that Sarah Jane did not find herself presented with the almost inevitable opportunity to bathe and drown the entire conversation in pity. She didn't need pity. There was only one man that she needed, one time lord.

"He was killed in a hit and run accident when I was little; the Doctor once took me to see him; it's fine, it's a lot more than most who have lost their dad's get, and I had the Doctor. All I need is him," finished Rose slightly sadly, secretly hoping that Sarah would deduce her intention.

Staring at the wall now, Rose came out of her thoughts almost enough to forget that Sarah Jane was still sitting beside her. Sarah wore a concerned expression at this realisation, which encompassed the entirety of her aged features. Sensing that tears were again about to cascade from Rose's tired eyes, she spoke up softly, "Look at me, Rose," while nudging Rose's face around to look at her with her palm. "We're going to find him, ok?" she stated confidently, taking Rose's hands in hers and pulling her from her seat.

Rose did not instantly realise what Sarah Jane had done, but when she did she slowed, giving herself time to ask a vital question. "Where are we going to look for him? I've been looking for him for the past six months and I haven't even caught a glimpse of the TARDIS, let alone one of him."

"Oh I've got an idea..." Sarah offered reassuringly, and dashed into the hallway in order to gather up the essentials for the upcoming journey; mobile, handbag and coat. The night ahead had the potential; undoubtedly, to be one of the longest, most exhausting and patience trying that she had experienced in her entire life.

Rose wished they had, but Sarah's words had neither inspired confidence within her, or filled her with hope.


	3. Catching Up

**A/N: Thanks once again to those of you who have reviewed so far to all of my stories; please keep them coming. **

**Part 3.**

The door of the TARDIS swung open suddenly as Donna almost leaped inside, followed immediately by the Doctor. Donna headed straight for the worn, aged and slightly dirtied chairs that lay on one side of the controls, but almost fell into the chair forwards in her laughter.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Donna exclaimed loudly, gasping as she struggled to catch her breath after having to run for the TARDIS. As she did so, the Doctor slammed the door of the old blue police box to a close.

The Doctor shrugged, and his hands rested at his side. "Historical event, big deal."

"HISTORICAL EVENT… THAT..THAT…THAT'S SICK, THAT'S WHAT THAT IS!" Donna boomed, almost causing the Doctor to fall against the door in shock. "See, you've got your breath back quickly enough to have a go at me," he said dismissively.

Donna stared down at the metal flooring, under which the Doctor had previously shown her a copy of one of Agatha Christie's novels, influenced by one of their many adventures through time. "Don't tell me you're putting that down there…" she managed meekly, looking as if she was about to wretch at the prospect.

"Of course I am; what else do you propose I do with it?"

Donna's mouth fell open in a split second, a look of sheer shock covering her expression. "GET RID OF IT!" She yelled with even more of an emphasis than she had placed on her preceding outburst. "You shouldn't have got the thing in the first place," she told him flatly.

"Of course I should; bit of Charles I's hair… everyone's got a bit."

Donna loved a chance to contradict the Doctor, and wasn't about to stop now. "Well I haven't." There was a brief pause, before Donna looked as if she had been hit with a sudden brainwave and spoke up again. "Do you like winding up Royals or something?"

The Doctor finally sat down beside his companion. "No I don't, as difficult to comprehend as that may prove for you."

"Why, what you done?" Donna asked, while it came to the Doctor that he had absentmindedly managed to refer to his experience with Rose and more recently his brief encounter with a royal alongside Martha.

"Oh… Rose and I once wound up Queen Victoria, then when I was with Martha, Queen Elizabeth I had a bow and arrow shot at the TARDIS because we ran away before she could get anyone to hit us."

Donna giggled slightly, while the Doctor thought to himself that that was just what Rose would do. Rose. "How did you wind her up?" Donna asked, breaking the Doctor of such welcome thoughts.

"Oh; changed my accent, told her I thought Prince Albert was protecting her from beyond the grave; I was basically rude all day and Rose kept trying to wind her up because she bet me £10 she could get her to say, 'We are not amused;' her clothes definitely weren't suitable for 1879 and Queen Victoria thought she was naked!"

Beginning to laugh uncontrollably; Donna fell forwards and then backwards in her chair, before speaking up again. "Who won?"

The Doctor's expression turned to one of amusement as he remembered what had happened in Scotland in 1879.

"Technically, me."

"Why do you say technically?"

The Doctor sighed. He'd discussed this trip in enough detail for his liking; it had been one of his favourites while travelling with Rose by his side. "In the end, Queen Victoria said "I am not amused" when the bet was for her to say "We are not amused," and it was me who really made her say it, not Rose," he finished, uncertain as to what his companion would think of this.

"Haven't changed much have you; still trying to wriggle your way out of everything!"

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two time travellers. Donna sighed. Rose. He always talked about her, as if the thoughts of his mind were voiced outside of his control. "You loved her, didn't you?"

"No!" The Doctor protested all too quickly; Donna instantly aware that he had been lying. She'd known his answer before she'd even asked the question. It was inevitable. He glanced down at his shoes, which only succeeded in making Donna even more certain of the Doctor's feelings toward his former companion.

"You can't fool me, Doctor…"

The Doctor sighed heavily, and stared at Donna. "Alright, yeah I did, and I still do.. I didn't mean it to happen; I didn't mean to fall for a human, let alone anyone her age."

Donna looked thoughtful for a brief moment. "Why, how old is she?" The ex – secretary enquired quietly.

The Doctor diverted his glance to the console of his ship, as if afraid that he would quickly be branded a cradle snatcher upon completion of his next sentence. "Now, 22."

A slight laugh filled the TARDIS, having originated from Donna. She hadn't meant to laugh, and swiftly set about making this abundantly clear to the Doctor. "Sorry… it's just… she's 22 and you're..904; bit of an age gap," she concluded.

"Yeah, which is exactly why it wasn't intentional… she was so gentle, so considerate, so selfless… and she was the only one who stuck by me through everything.." he trailed off, before realising how much of his heart's deepest desires he'd unwittingly managed to publicise. "Anyway, onwards…" he expressed a little too loudly, desperation to alter the topic of conversation more than evident in his exceedingly over enthusiastic tones. He really could win first prize in a contest to change the subject of a conversation most effectively, even when the contest spanned over numerous universes.

--

"Where are we going to look?" Came Rose's almost desperate tone of voice as she stepped out of the door behind Sarah Jane, and turned as she waited on her closing it.

Sarah paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. She took a sheet of crumpled paper out of her pocket, and unfolded it so that she was able to scan the notes that she had previously made. Rose quickly recognised the size of the sheet as being A4. As Rose thought of Canary Wharf and how the Doctor could be associated with something as simple, insignificant and domestic as a sheet of A4 paper, Sarah spoke up, breaking Rose of the isolation which had engulfed her being horrendously quickly. "First… I'm thinking a few streets away; massive commotion going on... something about things falling out of the sky."

"Like what?"

Sarah instantly knew what the falling object would have to be in order to mean that the Doctor would unquestionably be present at the scene which she and Rose edged towards, presently at a snail's pace. "Daleks, with any luck; you wouldn't find any of them without the Doctor, would you?"

Her question had not been intended as rhetorical; simply as an assurance to Rose that there were situations which the Doctor would always arrive to rectify; she did not respond, and gazed at the darkened concrete. Sarah held no idea as to why Rose had done this.

Sarah Jane looked puzzled for a brief moment, although this went unnoticed by Rose. "Rose, what's wrong?" she asked softly, glancing intently at her.

Rose hesitated. "W…what if he doesn't want me anymore, what if he's got someone better than me, what if it is the daleks and they've killed him?" she began stuttering, then trailed off.

At this, Sarah Jane paused concernedly and glanced behind her, to see Rose fledgling in her wake. "Come here," she called quietly, her voice as laced with concern as her actions, if not more so. "Whatever happens; I'll always be here. I've been through it, Rose, I know how difficult it is to adapt to life without the Doctor in it; at least I was older than you when it happened to me; you're not on your own, ever. We can forget this whole thing and you come back with me, or try to find him; whatever you want to do, Rose."

Sarah Jane stood expressionless for several moments, allowing Rose the time to contemplate her options without the need to make a hurried, rash and possibly regrettable decision.

"I need him; Mum's just so different since she's on that universe, with all that money and whatever she wants, and Pete, well he isn't my dad; my dad would never do that to me. The Doctor's all I've got."

The two companions strolled down the blackened street without another word, both fully aware, because of the commotion that could be heard swirling around in the distance, exactly where it was that they had to head. Neither questions nor statements were necessary.

--

"So, how'd you know where to find me, Martha Jones?" The voice of Captain Jack Harkness asked almost flirtatiously in the distance.

Martha turned to look up at the immortal former time traveller beside her. "Oh… I have connections... UNIT... a colleague of mine knew you had rebuilt Torchwood. The Doctor rang me and said there was a bit of an emergency going on, so I came to find you."

Jack spoke up again almost as soon as Martha concluded what she had been saying. "A bit of an emergency; now this must be serious, the Doctor never thought of anything as an emergency," he added in response to Martha's less than adequate explanation as the pair began to reminisce of their times with the Doctor; both together a year before, and prior to this.

"So right, there's one Slitheen still alive, and we're having dinner because the Doctor needed to refuel at the rift; you know, where I met you in Cardiff?"

"Yeah," Martha replied attentively.

"We're having dinner, I was talking to Rose about when I had my spaceship and used to travel, then all of a sudden the Doctor's got a newspaper with the Slitheen on the front cover; she's only the bloody mayor of Cardiff!" Jack exclaimed almost excitedly, clearly predominantly seeking to impress Martha with his account of the event.

Martha turned her thoughts back to her early days travelling with the Doctor. "Hang on, was that when that earthquake happened?"

"Yeah."

Jack turned to Martha in order to observe her reaction to his information. She looked thoughtful for a moment, deciding that the Doctor had not told her enough of why the earthquake had occurred. "How'd the Doctor manage that one then?"

Jack returned to his task of recounting what he had been telling Martha, prior to her forming a connection between the Slitheen and the Cardiff earthquake.

"Well, he found that paper as I said, then we decided the best way to catch the Slitheen was by covering all the exits she could have taken, then closing in on her. The Doctor strolled up to this really puffy secretary, demanding that he go in and tell this Slitheen that he wanted to see her. Anyway, she'd met the Doctor and Rose before when they blew up Downing Street, and this Slitheen tried legging it out of a window. The Doctor had to go after her while I ended up having to jump over some food trolley; no wonder they had one; the size of that Slitheen! Eventually we got outside and the Doctor was almost getting strangled by this secretary while Rose and I were running after the Slitheen; she caught us running towards her from both directions. In the end she teleported out and the Doctor had to reverse it with the sonic screwdriver so that we could catch her and take her back to the TARDIS. She said her planet carried the death penalty and that she was to be executed, then programmed a pandimensional surfboard to lock onto the TARDIS and rip open the rift, where the Doctor refuels the TARDIS, and that caused the earthquake."

"Right, so what was the Slitheen doing in Cardiff in the first place?"

Jack giggled silently at the memory, before speaking up in answer to Martha's most recent question. "Oh, she wanted to blow up a nuclear power station so she'd be able to get away from Earth."

"Some people," Martha began reasonably quietly. "I mean aliens," she followed, correcting her preceding mistake. "Are just so over the top; the Judoon once took the hospital I work in to the moon just to see if there was a non-alien in it!"

"Bet the Doctor loved that," Jack stated, a smirk covering his face.

Martha laughed, remembering how the Doctor had had his blood assimilated by the true culprit. "It wasn't actually him they were after though; not that that got him out of there without incident."

Jack appeared to have nothing further to add to the hospital discussion, and Martha spoke up once again.

"So, have you met the Daleks before then?"

"Unfortunately yes; I got exterminated by one." Jack told her, remembering how he had been stuck on Satellite 5 with the Doctor and Rose, when it had been home to some rather unfair games.

Martha's face fell. "You what?!" Martha started rather loudly, so much so that Jack momentarily doubted that it was really her. "B…b…but you're alive; what the?!" She began stuttering, but soon righted her speech.

Jack pondered an appropriate response to his fellow companion's question, but concluded that he did not really know sufficient detail with regard to the events of that fatal day, now so long ago. "Best ask the Doctor about that one; all I know is that Rose somehow absorbed all the energy of the time vortex and brought me back to life… oh and I'm now immortal because of it." He finished.

"How did you manage to get exterminated by a Dalek in the first place? Didn't you just run for it?" Martha questioned.

"Bit hard when you're on a station that's being invaded by millions of the things, to be honest with you."

"How'd that happen?"

"Transmat beam… we ended up in these twisted game shows where they transported the losers across space and these insane robot things tried to gave me a makeover that involved sawing my face off… not the best day of my life, then later three daleks ended up closing in on me, and that's when it happened."

"They actually tried to take your face off?!"

"Yep; good job I hid a gun up my... you don't wanna know." Jack finished; not the best way to impress a girl, he thought silently to himself.

"Too right I don't!"

"So how did you meet the Daleks then?"

Martha briefly remembered how the Doctor had had to remove dalekanium in order to prevent a dalek master plan from advancing. "Manhattan; there was a twisted plan to evolve because the Doctor kept wiping the vast majority of the daleks out; they were turning people they deemed to be highly intelligent into human daleks, and those of low intelligence into pig slaves."

"What did you do with that lot then?"

"Oh, the Doctor got in the way of the lightning strike which put time lord DNA into the human daleks, and they wouldn't shoot us but took out some of the daleks; in the end-".

Martha's explanation was cut short slightly as Captain Jack Harkness piped up. "OH MY GOD; IT CAN'T BE!"

Martha glanced ahead of the spot that she and Jack currently stood in, and saw nothing of interest. "In the end it got down to one dalek left in existence; what?" She finished by enquiring, having previously dismissed the element of urgency that laced the captain's words.

"ROSE?"


	4. Old Friends

Martha Jones observes with a wave of confusion consuming her as a blonde woman turns on her heel, and her chocolate brown eyes lock with Jack's. She gasps, and Martha allows herself to wonder exactly what the obvious element of shock is all about.

"Well well, Captain Jack Harkness," Rose begins as she embarks upon crossing the road that lies between the two of them. She only wishes crossing between this universe and Pete's in order to relocate the Doctor had been so simplistic, easy and unchallenging. She takes several steps towards her fellow travelling companion, closing the gap between the two of them by around a metre. "You're looking good," she finally finishes as she stares at him intently.

Martha stole a glance at Jack and found that he looked shocked, flabbergasted and interested, and all at the same time. Thinking back, Martha had never before experienced such a wide, extreme and complicated combination of emotions concealed within one body.

"Rose Tyler… good to see you… but what the hell?" Jack uttered as he reeled from the reunion with his old friend that he'd believed and been told continuously, that he would never experience.

Rose tucked several loose strands of her blonde hair behind her ears as she parted her lips to respond to her friend's question. Martha saw this, but spoke up anyway.

"You're Rose Tyler?!"

At this, Rose glanced behind her momentarily, her eyes catching with those of journalist Sarah Jane Smith, who was still yet to cross the road. Jack, like Martha, had as yet neither noticed or acknowledged her presence, and simply gazed at Rose in an attempt to determine what her reaction to Martha would be. Smoothing down her T shirt, Rose glanced back to the woman that accompanied Jack, and began to answer her question; unhelpfully as maybe. "No, I'm Margaret Thatcher! Who the hell do you think I am?!"

Finishing what she had been saying, Rose looked to Jack as if to ask him to explain to her the identity of the woman whom he had arrived beside. Jack did not, and Rose spoke up again, which compelled Jack to explain.

"Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Rose, this is Martha Jones; she's a friend of the Doctor's. We were just off to find the Doctor actually; daleks again."

Jack had not expected Rose's following action. She threw a meaningful glance at Martha, having figured that she had stolen her place beside the Doctor, only to then leave him. 'You can't seriously care about him and leave him; look at everything he's been through,' she thought to herself, cursing Martha under her breath. She'd ripped the Doctor's heart out; her Doctor's heart.

"Sarah," Rose called gently, clearly grateful for all that she had done to help her. "You're a genius; I've been looking for months and you can find him straight away," she praised her, running over to her and flinging her arms around her.

Sarah broke away from the hug, leading Rose back towards Jack and Martha, who looked at each other with surprisingly blank expressions. Jack, having seen the reception that Martha gave Rose; felt fairly confident that had she known who Sarah was, she would have explained.

"Sorry," Jack voiced, edging closer to Martha. "But who are you?" he finished, and Martha's expression, devoid of thought, was soon replaced by one portraying avid interest in the identity of the individual.

Rose, less than impressed with Martha for leaving her Doctor; saw her opportunity arise to convey the extent of her disapproval. "This is Sarah Jane Smith; she's a friend of the Doctor and I. She used to travel with him; at least she's one companion who knows the meaning of the word loyalty." Rose spat, her tone becoming more unwelcoming, hostile and somewhat vicious as her sentence drew to a close.

"He leave her behind when people started asking if she was his mother, did he?" Jack threw a meaningful glare at Martha as she concluded her unwelcome, unnecessary and frankly uncalled for question, then turned to look Sarah Jane in the eyes. He gave her a regrettable smile by way of an apology for Martha's words. Sarah Jane glanced to her shoes, feeling ridiculed, segregated and prejudiced against on grounds of her age, and this did not go unnoticed by Rose, who grew more furious by the second. Her expression progressed from one of faint distaste to unmistakeable and deep anger, which did not look as if it would ease in the foreseeable future. She frowned and Martha and quickly took two paces towards her, slamming her feet down onto the cold, black and dirtied concrete as she did so.

She seethed. Exhaling deeply, Rose began. "Listen, Jones," she spat, her eyes narrowing, pupils dilating and eyes burning into Martha's. "I don't know the first thing about you, but I don't give a shit; you've left the Doctor and put him through losing someone else, and then you go and make your little insinuations about others. I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you're way out of your depth. Way out." She boomed, emphasising her final point.

"I'm Doctor Martha Jones; what are you then? Nude model? Prostitute?"

Martha had not had sufficient time in which to entirely voice her final insult before Rose's hand flew from her side, stopping mere inches from Martha's face, in the capable grasp of Captain Jack Harkness.

"Handbags down please ladies." He commanded almost mockingly, as he pressured Rose's arm so that it fell back to rest at her side.

Jack turned his attention to Rose, narrowly in time to see her scowl at him. "Rose, like it or not, we're all on the same side here. The Doctor needs our help."

Sarah Jane glanced to Rose for a second, who let a contemptuous laugh escape her. "Yeah, of course; that explains why she's left the Doctor, made her little digs at Sarah, before starting on me!" She edged backwards having said her piece, and grasped Sarah Jane's hand from behind; starting in the direction of the rising commotion.


	5. The Aftermath

Martha stood rooted to the spot for several minutes longer, but which could have easily been interpreted for hours. She allowed herself appropriate time to reflect upon what had been said and tried her level headed best not to listen as numerous dalek cries of "exterminate!" which continued to flood against her will into her ears.

"You and the Doctor were actually friends with her?" She snorted, gesturing for the time agent to take the lead in their relatively short walk to the Doctor.

Jack paced on ahead, but did not turn to initiate eye contact with the young doctor following in his wake as she addressed him. "Yeah; she's a nice girl, the three of us had some good times for a while, before it all kicked off."

Martha scoffed immediately as Jack's words registered within her mind. "Nice girl?!" she repeated silently. "Jack, you know when Rose made you immortal; she didn't happen to give you a brain transplant as well, did she?"

"Just drop it," came the disapproving reply after only mere seconds. "Don't be so ridiculous; the Doctor can't even change minds when he regenerates, so a nineteen year old girl can hardly change hers, let alone those of others; even with the aid of the time vortex."

A sound unfamiliar to Jack originated from Martha. It was not dissimilar to that found radiating from a school child as they finally found the solution to a most challenging question. "She was nineteen?!"

This was common knowledge to Jack, who had grown attached to Rose several years previously, regardless of the fact that both he and the Doctor were many years her senior; The Doctor much more so than he, of course. "Yeah, and?" he questioned dismissively.

"Bit young to be waving guns around and defending the universe, isn't it?" Martha asked; her intention rhetorical. She'd merely intended to convey to the Captain, who had extended the distance between the two of them as they walked; her thoughts and feelings that, at nineteen years of age; one remained a child and simply too delicate to fight, especially when the fighting had the potential to scale over the entirety of the universe.

"She's wise beyond her years, I've got to hand that to her." Came the Captain's simplistic statement, which he had most certainly not anticipated to be met with any form or extent of opposition.

"Really; seems a bit thick to me."

Jack sped up his pace again. "Some things you measure beyond A Levels and degrees, Martha."

"Oh, really?"

Abandoning his preceding intention to continue to the Doctor's side alone, by way of bypassing a further barrage of progressively more hostile, abusive and insulting comments, the Captain spun on his heel.

"She's incredibly brave. She was trapped in that parallel world during Canary Wharf, which made her barely twenty. She's seen him regenerate, grow a new hand, all of that, and he's told her things about himself he's never told anyone else; human or not. I used to catch them in the TARDIS sometimes, and as soon as they realised I was approaching, the subject of the conversation would swiftly differ to something completely unrelated, something so extensively different that their words didn't even display a faint relation to each other. If I asked them what they'd been discussing, they'd deny everything, and find an exceedingly poor reason to send me to the control room. She loved him, she really did, and I'd have thought that having been without him for the past two years would have destroyed her, bu-" Jack had attempted to explain, but found his efforts intercepted by a somewhat enraged doctor from behind.

"No wonder he never looked at me twice! He loved her too, I take it?"

The Captain nodded; rapidly, repeatedly and relentlessly.

Martha sniffed, fuelled by the sheer intensity of her feelings toward her former travelling companion, feelings that she had found herself forced to withhold.

"Don't blame me for that; you asked. You put the nail in your own coffin. You shouldn't ask questions you can't face hearing the answers to."

"You're starting to appear an adequate likeness for my mother."

Jack sighed, and shot an incredulous glance; a glare, at Martha. He held it for a prolonged period, allowing his meaning to burn into her. "There's no point you sounding like you've overused a thesaurus, because it won't make him love her any less when you sound so much more academically inclined than her."

"Whatever; when Donna sees her, she'll no longer strut around believing that she dominates everything." Martha argued, and dashed off ahead of Jack, in the direction of the Doctor.

Jack thought. He remembered, considered and wondered. Reaching no conclusions as to an identity, he shouted into the falling darkness which enveloped them on the cold night, "Who's Donna?!"


	6. The End

**This is dedicated to totally.doctor.who for reviewing almost every chapter. No happy ending for Rose and Martha in this I'm afraid, though I'm currently working on a story in which they do get on. Please keep the reviews coming. **

"What's a dalek?" Donna asked the Doctor as they stepped out of the TARDIS and onto unfamiliar ground, which the diminishing levels of both natural and manmade light prevented them from deducing exactly. Donna plunged for a hill, which, to her, was all too steep. If the Doctor could not be sure upon what exactly the pair were standing, she certainly couldn't be, she resolved.

The Doctor looked at Donna, but could not laugh, regardless of the fact that she was yet to know what a dalek was. Time was that Rose had not known, which she clearly conveyed when she'd touched the live specimen within Van Staten's museum, giving it power, a reign of terror and control over the building. It hadn't been hereditary to Martha, either. She'd only found out when the TARDIS happened to land in Manhattan during their travels, which escalated from the thank you trip that the Doctor had initially promised to Martha. "Flying pepper pot basically; only problem is they can kill everything, and I mean everything. Even worse than the Cybermen which you didn't see in Spain."

"Not good, then."

The Doctor looked thoughtful for a moment, remembering how much easier the current situation could be had the daleks not found yet another seemingly impossible way to survive, to live on, to dirty the world on yet another occasion. "Nope, almost impossible to kill them, but it really depends on how many of them there are."

Donna was reduced to silence upon hearing this, but thought of her time back in Pompeii with the Doctor several months previously. He'd righted the course of history, so couldn't he cure the daleks from their endless killing spree? She voiced this. "Doctor… can't you… just, like, help them, stop them from killing everyone?"

"They're way past that; human daleks yeah, but the daleks realised they hadn't gone as planned because I got in the way, and wiped them out. A dalek hates, nothing else; no remorse, no sympathy, nothing. Everything but pure dalek is regarded as wrong."

Donna glanced at the Doctor briefly, as if about to ask why all within a dalek's capabilities was formed upon central ideas of hate and killing. She was broken swiftly from her thoughts however as a voice rang out across the dark of the night, slicing through the atoms of the air. All atoms were simply pushed aside, branded irrelevant as an all too familiar cry met with the Doctor's ears. "YOU ARE ROSE TYLER. YOU DESTROYED THE EMPEROR OF THE DALEKS. EXTERMINATE!"

The Doctor looked puzzled; perhaps thoughtful for a moment, and then looked up to his latest companion, a grin etched across his features. "It's her…" he reeled, but happily. His expression faltered, and the grin that had previously dominated his expression was dissipated into confusion, and then a regretful display of sadness as the Doctor convinced himself that whatever he had heard, Rose couldn't be back. Never ever. She was gone. As much as it pained him, she was trapped in a parallel universe with no way out. No returns, no reunions. "No." he stated simply as Donna turned to see what she could decipher from her friend's face. "It can't be her. Impossible."

Donna returned a disapproving glance, her eyes burning into his and commanding him to do as she wished, to do as she instructed. "Last time I checked, you were pretty good at impossible. Follow the caterwauling, see if it's her. It might not be; she might still be trapped in the parallel world, but a chance is better than nothing. Go. Now."

"'Follow the caterwauling'" the Doctor quoted, in a manner which faintly resembled humorous. "I have reached my destination, in that case," he finished, pulling a face at Donna which referenced their voyage through time to Pompeii, and the way in which he'd stated her voice would never cease. He remembered the almost numerous other occasions; or rather tried to; upon which Donna had used words to her advantage when dealing with the variety of aliens that the pair had encountered on their travels through time and space. He pondered their rather successful encounter with the Ood, having set the TARDIS controls to random, when the side of his face met with Donna's palm.

The Doctor looked shocked, although he did not really know the reason behind this. It wasn't the first time she'd slapped him, and he was sure that this being the last time she'd slap him was even less likely than his settling down with Jackie Tyler and a mortgage. Impossible. She was on a parallel world, she was Rose's mother, she had Pete, and he only had eyes for Rose. Not to mention the fact that Jackie had been appalled at the fact that he was indeed an alien, discounting the fact that he had taken her daughter through time and space and had Jackie believe that her daughter had been kidnapped, killed, and met with many other unthinkable fates beforehand. "What did you do that for?!"

Donna huffed, and allowed her knee to jerk forward in a subtle hint, for the benefit of the Doctor. "Just go, before I force you."

"Yes miss." The Doctor saluted, and followed the dalek's tin tones. If Rose could follow his voice and come to Dalig Ul Stranden, he could without error go to her. How he hoped it was her; his Rose Tyler. He left a giggling Donna behind, who had decided that it was Rose, whatever the Doctor thought, therefore believing that they both needed and deserved some time alone with each other.

--

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" continued the Daleks as the Doctor drew ever closer to his destination. He wished with all his heart for it to be her, and longed for some luck for at least once in his extremely long, lonely and incredibly painful life. He'd lost Gallifrey; his home planet; his people; the time lords; and his family. The very least this universe could do for the man that had fought so hard and long to defend it was to return to him his companion. His Rose Tyler.

"You lot! No wonder the Doctor destroys you every time; you spend so long bickering over who gets the last word with your little action commentaries that you never actually get round to carrying out your threats! So come on; EXTERMINATE!"

It was her. That unmistakeable, beautiful and confident voice sailed through the air of the night and met with his ears. Confident, and even more so now; he was in no doubt. Tears began to form in the Doctor's eyes, clouding his vision slightly; at the thought of the reunion with his precious companion that he'd believed so gravely would never come. Never. Him a time lord; emotional. Of course she had made him that way; he'd cried when he'd lost her and he was in danger of doing so now. This time, though, he'd cry tears of happiness, and hoped she would too. Or, alternatively, cry rivers; in response to her outrageously premature death. He'd missed her so much; often wished he'd taken her to other times and other planets; always longed for another minute to enable him to confess that he loved her too. And now it was here.

"ROSE!"

The Doctor continued to advance, ascending the hill ahead of him. As he neared its peak, he could clearly make out Rose's beautiful features in the distance; still as beautiful as the day they had been torn apart. "ROSE!" he yelled again, concluding that she had not been able to hear him previously as a direct result of the daleks' deafening screams, yells and booms.

"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR, YOU ARE THE ENEMY, YOU MUST BE EXTERMINATED!" came the hostile sounds of the daleks. Rose had not become aware of the Doctor's presence beforehand, and at this spun on her heel, confident that had she been wearing heels, she would have broken her ankle.

"Doctor?" She questioned pleadingly, barely able to allow herself to believe that he was here, with her, after two incredibly long, drawn out and tiring years. Her voice was not dissimilar to that of a small child, scared that he would disappear again after all this time. She'd searched high and low for this man; the last time lord in existence; the Doctor, and now he was here.

The Doctor started to address his former companion, but did not need to complete his request before Rose dashed to him, her arms splaying out at her sides in her hurry. "It's me; come here Rose."

Rose threw herself into the arms of her Doctor, before hurriedly crying rivers into his shoulder. He returned the hug and enveloped her shaking form, before attempting to sooth her. "Hey, you're back now, you don't need to cry any more."

"I know," she sniffed, apparently unable to stop the stream of tears which cascaded from her lifeless eyes. Attempts to hold back her tears meant the emission of an even louder and more heart wrenching sob, and the Doctor simply scooped her up in his arms and allowed her head to rest beside his. He spun her round several times, as she grasped onto him for dear life.

The Doctor, for once, seemed to know less as to the reasoning behind current events than one of his companions, and returned Rose to her spot centimetres in front of him on the floor. The dimension of the empty space between them was minimal, and neither would have it any other way. "Rose…" the Doctor began to utter, clasping his hand around hers and bringing it to his side. "How did you get back?" he asked her, his voice drained from the shock and emotion which Rose's return had meant for him.

"Torchwood eventually found me a way back; I don't know how, though. I'd be lying if I told you I could focus when they were all surrounding me, attempting to explain how I was going back. All I cared about was coming back for you," Rose offered honestly, sincerely and gingerly.

"I missed you so much; with you with me I could deal with anything, then I get Carrionites working their way into my memories, finding your name, and crumble over it…" The Doctor recalled, quite ashamed at the adverse effect he had allowed the witches to have over his being. Slight tears formed behind his eyes as Rose glanced up from her newly claimed spot beside him. Her instincts, which had sharpened, matured and developed substantially during her time without him; told her in no uncertain terms that the Doctor continued to physically ache from what could well be the everlasting torment which had begun years previously as a direct consequence of their separation.

Rose looked to be saddened for a brief moment, although this stemmed from her appreciation of her Doctor's heartache. "I missed you too; everything I did on that world was related to getting back here."

The Doctor suddenly held his arms open wide, as a dentist's patient would their mouth. "Come here…" he invited warmly, his voice faltering slightly under the intense emotion to which the moment came attached. At this, Rose stumbled to him; neither now nor at any time in the future intending to pass up an opportunity to get close to the Doctor. He enveloped her in a welcoming hug, stroking her back comfortingly as she clung to him as if her life depended on it. In her view, it did.

"I love you," Rose eventually broke their silence filled moment, muttering the deepest feelings of her shattered heart into the dampened cloth of his shirt. He knew already; she'd resolved, having informed him of her true feelings on Bad Wolf Bay. She'd had only minutes of non physical contact remaining, and wished with every fibre of her being that she had confided her true feelings in him while they'd still had the whole of time and space extended out ahead of them.

The Doctor grinned; as selfish as it sounded, as unreasonable a man as it meant he was, the Doctor experienced a feeling of gladness at the fact that his Rose had not ceased loving him in her time away. Time away; that wasn't it. What that suggested was that Rose had simply popped over for a visit, and not found herself trapped in the parallel universe against her will. And what will she had, what determination, what courage. "I know… I love you too; stupidly there was me branding you defender of the Earth, addressing you by your full name, and you were stuck in that world without knowing it." Reaching the end of his sentence, the Doctor glanced to the ground with an air of sadness about him, and blinked repeatedly. If Rose didn't know better, she'd say he had been blinking away the tears which threatened to fall from his eyes. Him, the last time lord; crying.

"It doesn't matter; I'm here now and I know how you really feel. It was kind of obvious from that half of a sentence, but I'm so glad I'm back to have heard you say it in words."

"Rose?" The Doctor stuttered meekly, reeling from an unintentional suggestion which lay behind her words. 'To have heard you say it,' that was it; Rose Tyler was going to return to an unreachable, isolated and entirely separate universe, and there was nothing even he could do to prevent this terrible, heartbreaking and unthinkable course of events. Well, clearly not entirely unthinkable, as that was exactly as his Rose had done; thinking, she was going! "Yo-you-you-your-you're g-go-going back?" He appeared to be utterly crestfallen, and not so far from the image of a man who had just had his world crumble around him, as if his family had divided before his very eyes, and all were in the process of leaving, of abandoning him. In a sense this was worse than Gallifrey burning; far worse, worse than his entire family and race meeting their grim ends during that fateful war. The Time War.

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and cupped his head, forcing him to look her in the eyes. The gaze that the pair subsequently exchanged was intense at minimum. It burned from one to the other, scarring both their minds pleasantly. Rose, having concluded that she must take the lead, spoke softly to the seemingly heartbroken Doctor who had accompanied her throughout time and space. "Of course I'm not going!" She squealed, emphasising her definite words. "I love you; did you get that? You great alien!" she added affectionately, giggling.

The Doctor simply beamed before her. The smile which littered his pale complexion was larger than any she had seen before, and said a thousand words. "I'll forgive that insult; since you're staying," came the conclusion, and he held out both arms and beckoned her forwards. The time travellers embraced in a caring, intense and prolonged hug, which was both firm and gentle.

"DOCTOR!" A somewhat precarious yell in the views of the Doctor and Rose rang out in the distance, echoing in the atmosphere as it bounced back off of the approaching batch of daleks, which were rather sporadically huddled together. Trundling on and on, the daleks' orders from one to another were easily overheard.

"What is it, Jack?"

The Captain panted rapidly as he came to a halt before the Doctor and Rose. "Oh, she got here then," he noted aloud, having caught sight of Rose in his presence.

The Doctor looked miffed for a second, and proceeded to question Jack's choice of words. "Yeah; problem with that?" He finished after a moment's hesitation.

"I've just run god knows how far in order to inform you of recent developments!" He shrieked, his eyes fixed on the Doctor's.

"You mean that Rose is back? Amazingly, I got that message when I caught a dalek preparing to exterminate her. Shocking, I know." He joked quickly.

The Captain seemed to be peeved at this. He rolled his eyes at the Doctor, taking his time over his action so that it did not go unnoticed by its intended audience. "Among other things… Rose and Martha don't get on, in case she's neglected to inform you."

"Why's that then?" The Doctor asked, directing his question politely at Jack, whom fought to steady his breathing throughout the course of the exchange. A glance at his female companion obtained not one drop of response, and with this in mind, he intensified his glance to form a glare, and targeted the Captain once again.

Jack gazed at the young blonde beside the Doctor, and mulled over his phrasing options. How could he explain to the Doctor without contracting Rose's wrath, without causing her to hate him for all eternity? "From what I could get," Jack voiced, having resolved that it was as good a place as any to begin. That way, a slight error could be blamed upon his failure to adequately witness and recall the scene. "Martha's jealous of Rose because you love her, and haven't looked at her twice… they're just so different, and desperate to score points off of each other."

"Donna!" The Doctor called, buying himself some time. He pursed his lips in thought for a moment, and then spoke up softly. "Right... enough of this; we've got daleks on the way up, le-"

The Doctor's much needed plan of action, given the current circumstances, ceased while it had barely began. He'd often anticipated protest of this kind from none other than Jackie Tyler. "I was not trying to score points off of her; she's the one lording her qualifications over everyone!" Make no mistake, thought the time lord. Rose Tyler had definitely been taking lessons from Jackie; was there really nothing better to do for a sense of amusement at the same time as being trapped in a parallel world?

"We'll sort this out later," The Doctor stated sharply, sternly and with a tone of voice that was suggestive of a large amount of authority. While he did so, Martha Jones had finally found her way to rejoin the converging group; Donna emerging from the opposite side of the hill.

Nine hundred years of space travel behind him; the Doctor's experience really should have allowed him to think on his feet both more easily and more quickly than this. "Jack… I'm just going to have to trust you not to molest Martha for the sake of this operation… you two go back down that way," he instructed, preventing yet another glance of extreme hatred, jealousy and disapproval from emerging between his young companions.

"Donna," he breathed deeply, spinning around in order to regain eye contact with the most recent arrival. "You go with Sarah, she's an old friend of mine." came something of an unwelcome addition. Its effect was immediate; Rose met with a barrier as she considered an appropriate way in which she could address Donna; his words stopped her in her tracks.

"Rose; with me. I'm never letting you out of my sight again."


End file.
